There can only be one
by Sonnie333
Summary: One-shot. Katniss' memory of watching Peeta die after swallowing the nightlock


**Author's notes:**

**My other fic's are Harry Potter but I thought I'd spice it up with a little Hunger Games action ;) **

**A little one-shot from Katniss' POV of Peeta swallowing Night-lock**

**Reviews would be great, good and bad, please NO FLAMES! Thankyou to my Beta RandomReggie :)**

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own The Hunger Games or any of it's characters**

"Stop! Stop! Ladies and Gentlemen I am pleased to present the victors of the seventy fourth hunger games"

He told us to stop, so that's exactly what I did. Only I thought he would too.

As I let my arm swing by my side, letting out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding, the night-lock hit the arena floor.

Suddenly I was turned and pulled into a crushing hug, and at first I thought that's all it was, a congratulatory hug. Then I felt the infinitesimal shuddering and looked up.

Peeta's lips where tinted black with the juice from the night-lock berries and I pushed myself out of his strong arms and grabbed his face.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" I almost screamed, almost because my voice broke several times.

I knew exactly what he'd done. He'd swallowed the night-lock, but that didn't stop my brain churning nauseatingly as it tried to make sense of why.

In a minute, maybe less, my Peeta would die. I didn't have time to question the rather possessive tone my mind took as I was once again crushed into his chest.

It felt so natural to be here, in his arms, so safe and perfect and that only made the agonising realisation worse. This would be the last time I could ever be here, enclosed safe in his arms.

I could feel him juddering now, shaking more violently around me with a sheen of yellow sweat beginning to coat his skin. I let out a broken sob.

He lowered his head slightly till his lips where at my ear and breathed a soft whisper into my good ear;

"Can you imagine how the Capitol would react to us both as victors Katniss? They'd kill us both. There is only one victor; only one person gets to live, that's the rule." He said his voice tender and sincere. He then placed a simple kiss on my cheek before his grip loosened and his knees began to buckle.

I fell to the ground with him as he began to convulse slightly, I could feel his heart thundering violently within his chest, working too hard to survive and by doing so pumping the poison round his body faster.

Tears fell from my face as he pulled himself so his head was resting on my knees. I gently stroked his hair as I sobbed unabashedly. I was shaking my head, willing myself to wake up and this be part of some dreadful dream; but it wasn't.

"Katniss" he choked, but I couldn't look down at him, not now.

"Hey" he whispered, a shaky hand grabbing my chin and feebly tilted my face to look at his.

"Girl on fire…" and with that I let myself look at him; really look at him. I could see it, the strange hue his skin had taken, he only had seconds left.

"Never burn out." Peeta exhaled.

I felt his heart skip a beat and then stop all together. His body fell limp and heavy as I watched the light leave his brilliantly blue eyes.

A canon sounded.

My sobbing became uncontrollable and in that moment I had no care whether the whole of Panem saw me cry.

I thought we'd done it, I thought we'd found a way to go home together.

"Can you imagine how the capitol would react to us both being victors Katniss?"

My mind couldn't seem to make sense of it, nothing made sense and I was getting more hysterical and livid by the moment. I knew soon a hovercraft would come and take me, I could in the back of my mind hear the running commentary of events but my mind was stuck, jammed on Peeta's lifeless face below me.

My Peeta was gone.

Why could I only see it now? Why did I only realise now that's what he was- MY Peeta. He was mine in every sense of the word. I wanted him, I wanted him to take me home, I wanted to wake up to him after the nightmares, I wanted to kiss him every day and night and I wanted him to be here, with me. Living, and breathing.

It was all painfully clear now, how much I needed him and he needed me, how much I depended on him and how he made me the person I am today; how much I loved him…

With that I began pounding on his chest and shaking him so violently his head lolled.

"HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME! HOW DARE YOU! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME! COME BACK! YOU SELFISH BASTARD, COME BACK! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE LIKE THIS! PEETA PLEASE!" I screamed out, attacking Peeta in some meagre hope that I would punch the life back into him, but was more angry at the Capitol and I didn't hold back, I didn't care anymore, what more could they do?

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED? ARE YOU ENTERTAINED NOW? CHILDREN HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES! CHILDREN! HOW CAN YOU SIT BACK AND WATCH THIS? HOW MANY OF US HAVE TO DIE BEFORE YOU REALISE THIS IS WRONG. WE'RE TORN FORM OUR FAMILIES, AND FORCED TO KILL OTHER HUMAN BEINGS FOR WHAT!" I screamed at the sky and paused to take a ragged breath.

I collapsed onto Peeta's lifeless frame, clinging to his torn and bloody shirt and let the sobs wrack through me again.

I heard the eerie silence which signified the coming of a hovercraft and was hit with the realisation I would probably never see Peeta again. He would be taken from me a second time.

"They can't take you from me, please Peeta just wake up, please just get up" I sobbed into his chest, the hover craft neared and I moved myself to kiss him one last time.

"I'm sorry Peeta" I sobbed against his lips, "I so sorry I didn't realise sooner, but it was real for me." I whispered before the hover craft beam began to lift me from him and I screamed and lashed out reaching for my Peeta.


End file.
